Flying to Iquitos

My plane ticket said Cusco to Iquitos. My boarding pass said Cusco to Iquitos. So you can imagine my surprise when the plane landed in Lima and the pilot said, "Welcome to Lima. Enjoy your stay." Um....

I gathered up my stuff and yes, I should have asked the question BEFORE I disembarked...but I didn´t. I went to the baggage claim place in the airport...there, I asked the question.

The airline person looked in puzzlement at my boarding pass. "There´s no direct flight from Cusco to Iquitos." No shit.  After showing my pass and telling my story to a few people, one lady said, "You shouldn´t have left the plane." No shit. "It´s leaving in 20 minutes!" Oh shit.

I was not permitted to go back the way I came - security. I had to go through the airport proper, go through security, the whole rigmarole. An air hostess who was going that way was recruited to help fast track me - she shoved me through the metal detectors, explaining things quickly to the security folks. We jogged down the line of boarding gates - mine was at the end...of course. She pointed in the direction I needed to go and told me to RUN to gate 9.

I ran. The guy was waiting for me at the gate and ushered me into the corridor leading to the plane. I ran down the corridor, with visions of a plane full of glaring, angry passengers....but no, folks were still settling in.

I found the seat I had occupied just 35 min ago. sigh. FLIGHT TIP: When in doubt, ask BEFORE you get off the plane.

We landed in Iquitos at around 8pm and immediately I could feel the heat and humidity. When I got to the terminal there was a porter there with my name. Ok...didn´t really need a porter...he grabbed my stuff and then escorted me outside - where we were assailed by a barrage of taxi and mototaxi drivers. The porter walked past them all to one in particular, and when we got to his car the porter waited...oh I need to tip you do I? grrrr didn´t need a bloody porter...

Iquitos is the largest city that you have to either fly into or boat into - there are no roads or rails to this place. Cars are a real luxury and are not very common. I was quite scary to watch this taxi guy dodging motorcycles stacked with entire families on them.

We finally arrived at my hostel - in a pitch black street...oh dear. He honked his horn and the door opened. A guy came out to grab my bags. "Welcome to the Flying Dog - we have no power." Great.

The taxi asked for a ridiculous 20 soles for the trip - I had paid 6 in Cusco. Oh....it´s going to be one of those places.

The Story of the Sandals

Back on the Monday before I went on the trail, and Encarna was still with me in Cusco, I found a lovely pair of sandals that I HAD to have...ladies, you all know what I´m talking about. This was in a mini market type place that we had ducked into to avoid the rain. The sellers were in a U shape in a large inner courtyard of an old building.

The lady selling the lovely sandals didn´t have my size in the colour that I wanted (red, of course) but she did say that her husband could whip a pair up for me no problem. I would just have to put down a deposit and come back on Wednesday (the day before the trail). Hmmmm sounds good to me! I paid a deposit of half the negotiated price and she told me she would be there on Wednesday at 9 sharp with my sandals.

Wed 9:00 - no one
Wed 10:00 - no one
Wed 11:45 - "Oh, sorry they´re still not here. Can you come back later please?"
Wed 1:30 - "Oh, when I said later I meant like 3."
Wed 3:30 - "Oh, sorry. Still not here and I´m closing at 4 today...but the lady across the way will be here to take them from the guy when he gets here....for SURE in an hour."
Wed 4:30 - (lady across the way) shakes her head - they still haven´t come.
Wed 5:10 - Still nothing. I left an angry note (I went to use an internet cafe to use google translate).

When I got back to Cusco after the Inca Trail, I was determined to get those bloody sandals!

The morning started much like it did above - no one was there. By my third visit at 11, one of the other sellers asked me to stop and have a look at her stuff. I was so angry by this point I replied, "No comprando nada aqui, la señora de 48 me robaron!"  - I won´t buy anything here the lady in stall 48 has robbed me....and I stomped away.

The woman called me back a few times before I reluctantly turned and walked back. She wanted the story. I explained the thing as best I could - the verb tenses were all over the place...gasp! - and the woman managed to piece it together. By then another vendor, a gentleman, had come over as well. They discussed the situation and then turned to me and said, "We will call them and get you your sandals. If they don´t show up we will reimburse you ourselves." wow...

They called the people from stall 48 and asked me to come back in 40 min...here we go again. But, I went away and came back an hour later for good measure.
 The maker of the sandals was there...with my sandals and a thousand apologies - it was Christmas time...there were many orders...the wife didn´t consult...etc, etc...
Anyway, I finally got my sandals - and I still had an hour to kill before my flight to Iquitos...the jungle.